This Art abounds in different types of foot support arrangements which are employed for anchoring, for example, roof racks, load carriers, ski boxes and the like to the roof of a vehicle. These support arrangements may either be designed in such a manner as to cooperate with a gutter along the edge of the vehicle roof, or in such a manner that they support against the roof proper and engage with an edge portion of the roof, for example at a door opening. These prior Art support arrangements have also been provided with connection devices of different designs for interconnecting the foot arrangements to the strut which, as a rule, extends transversely over the vehicle roof to a corresponding foot arrangement on the opposing edge portion of the roof.
In certain cases, these prior Art constructions have functioned not unsatisfactorily, but have often been complex in both their manufacture and manner of employment. Furthermore, in certain prior Art constructions, there has also been the risk that the connection between the foot and the strut extending over the vehicle roof has been shaken loose under the action of vibrations, which is wholly unnaceptable in those cases where the foot arrangements have been used on a vehicle which lacks a gutter extending along the edge of the vehicle roof. The reason why these problems have been particularly manifest in this latter type of vehicle is quite simply that, in such cases, the strut extending over the roof has been exposed to tractive forces, since the foot arrangements are tensioned obliquely inwardly towards the centre line of the vehicle roof. Hence, this tensioning force must be transferred via the strut in order that the entire load carrier be safely and securely retained on the vehicle.